Business organizations often store electronic documents for their customers. For example, a bank may store Portable Document Format (PDF) copies of a customer's account statements. The customer can then log onto the bank's website and view present and past statements. While this offers certain conveniences, this system also creates numerous issues for the customer. Some of these are issues are described below in the context of a bank customer trying to access his or her past bank account statements. This banking scenario is used to for ease of description, but the issues are not limited to the financial sector.
First, a customer may be required to manually log onto the bank's website and individually download statements if he or she wants to keep his or her own copy of the statement. The steps required to do so vary from entity to entity, which can be frustrating for a consumer trying to manage statements from different banks, brokerages, insurance providers, and the like. Second, a consumer must secure and backup any of the electronic files he or she wishes to archive for any length of time. After all, the bank controls how long old statements may be accessible online. Consequently, a consumer storing old statements on a hard drive may lose those statements if the hard drive fails. Then the customer has lost his or her archived statements. Third, there is no element of authenticity for a customer's downloaded copy. For example, an original paper statement from a bank may have some level of authenticity to a third party due to, for example, the ink and logos used on the statement. However, the equivalent document downloaded by a consumer may lack the same level of authenticity because, for example, the third party may fear electronic copies of the record are susceptible to tampering. More specifically, there is no independent party to attest to the legitimacy of the downloaded document and attempt to establish that the document was authenticate when it was delivered from the bank to the customer. Thus, there is no electronic “notarization” of the document the consumer downloads. Fourth, the business determines the security mechanisms used to ensure the documents are securely stored. These mechanisms vary greatly from company to company and may not rise to the level desired by the consumer. Fifth, consumers lack a single location to automatically store records from disparate entities. Sixth, when consumers close accounts the statements related to those accounts may no longer be available online to the consumer.
The issues listed above may have very real consequences. For example, properly archived authenticated records may help resolve legal disputes. A customer may purchase a television from a department store. The customer may pay for the television with a check that eventually clears, as evidenced by a bank statement. However, the customer may eventually close the account. As time goes by, the department store may assert the consumer never paid for the television. The payment dispute could be resolved if the consumer had access to the statement from the bank. Unfortunately, as indicated above, this statement may no longer be readily available online to the user because he or she closed the account or the statement is simply so old the bank no longer offers access to it online.